


burning on the edge of something beautiful

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, M/M, One-Shot, cute and fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 04:32:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8190215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Louis looks up as the line moves forward and his mouth drops open. He’s certain his eyes have probably gone comically wide. He’s not sure how he didn’t notice it when he first got in line, but the person in front of him is wearing a nearly identical shirt to the one he’s wearing.
Or rather, the exact opposite. 
Instead of the ridiculous galaxy pattern across his chest like Louis, this person has it on his sleeves. The rest of his shirt is black, and Louis is a bit irrationally jealous. He only has to deal with the ridiculous pattern on his sleeves, instead of his whole torso. Although, Ridiculous Shirt Guy probably chose to wear this shirt in public, so. 
 
(Or the one where Louis wears a ridiculously ugly shirt that accidentally leads him to his soul mate.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> So, I was perusing tumblr yesterday and somehow came across [this](http://larryfanfictionideas.tumblr.com/post/146490577106/paynner-ok-but-imagine-a-larry-au) prompt. It's silly and stupid but I couldn't get it out of my head, so...here you go! And like, no offense if you own a shirt with this pattern, rock it boo!
> 
> Title is from DJ Snake and JB's song 'let me love you'.
> 
> Enjoy! :D

Louis wakes up to the smell of armpit and the sound of Marimba blaring in his left ear. 

A rather unpleasurable experience if he’s being honest.

He nudges his head further into what he’s hoping is Liam’s armpit and not a stranger from the pub they were at last night to escape the dreaded tune of his cell phone alarm.

It stops for a second and Louis relaxes only for it to start up again. It’s not as loud this time, but it’s still irritating enough for Louis to become seriously upset with his drunk self 6 hours ago for setting it. 

He hears some grumbling from beside him and the arm he has his head rested against starts to move, the hair making Louis’ nose twitch as it rubs against him.

“Make it stop, Lou.” Liam’s voice calls out hoarsely. 

Louis starts feeling around the duvet for his phone and earns a half assed smack across his back from Liam’s arm when his phone starts ringing for a third time.

“Louis.” Liam’s voice is a bit sharper this time and causes Louis to turn and sit up straight in the bed. His stomach rolls a bit and he feels slightly dizzy as he finally locates his phone. Turning off the alarm Louis collapses back on the bed.

“I feel fucking horrible.” He whines as he scrubs a hand down his face. “Why did you let me go out last night?”

“Don’t try and pin this on me.” Liam calls out as he slowly sits up in the bed. “’It’s our last chance to get pissed the night before classes start’.” Liam quotes in a voice much higher than normal.

Louis vaguely remembers making a very drunken toast to starting their final year of university last night, standing on a wobbly table in one of the pubs down the road. Liam had been panicking the whole time Louis had stood on the table, and he’s pretty sure Niall was taking a video. Although, looking back he’s not sure if Niall was videoing him or Liam (he’d bet money that a video of Liam’s panic would be way more entertaining than watching Louis slur his way through another toast). Making a mental note to ask Niall about the video later, Louis ventures to open his eyes again. 

It’s so fucking bright. 

“I don’t sound like that.” Louis snaps, pushing his index fingers into his temples. Maybe if he pushes hard enough his whole head will just implode, anything to relieve the pressure and pounding. He hears Liam grumbling something about “last chance to be hung-over on the first day of class, more like” when Louis sits up in bed again.

“Shit.” Louis looks down at his phone and sees that it’s nearly 8:40. “I’ve got class.” 

Louis’ not a huge stickler for class and has definitely be known to skip to sleep off a hangover before, but it’s the first day of his final year of university. And if he can remember his schedule correctly, his first class of the day is his upper level accounting class. His advisor teaches it and he knows that she’ll notice if he skips. Considering she’ll probably be the one writing recommendations for internships come spring, he’s keen to stay on her good side.

Louis pushes himself off the bed and starts haphazardly gathering his things from around the room. Liam gets off the bed as well and heads into the en suite, returning right as Louis is jumping back into his jeans. He’d been wearing his tightest pair the night before, and he’s having trouble squeezing back into them this early in the morning.

“Here.” Liam holds out a bottle of water in one hand and a couple of pills in the other as Louis finally buttons his jeans. 

“Bless you, Payno.” Louis says, putting the pills in his mouth before taking a swig of water. Liam grunts a response as he gets back in the bed.

Louis doesn’t have time to brush his teeth, even though he does have a toothbrush that he keeps at Liam’s flat, so he snags a piece of gum from Liam’s desk instead. Looking frantically around the room he finds the shirt he was wearing last night. He can smell it before he even brings it close to his face and throws it back on the floor on instinct.

“I’m going to borrow a shirt, alright?” He asks as he heads over to Liam’s closet. He borrows Liam’s clothes all the time so he really isn’t expecting the sharp and resounding “no” that comes from the blob that is under the duvet.

“Come again?” Louis asks, exasperated. A look at the alarm clock on Liam’s desk says that it’s 8:46. He’s got 14 minutes to get to the middle of campus. He knows he doesn’t have time to go back to his own flat to change clothes and grab his school things. He’ll be doing good just to get to class on time and he doesn’t need Liam’s moody sass slowing him down any further. 

“You take all my shirts.” Liam’s voice comes clearly from a hole in the duvet. His head is just peaking out, but his face looks stern. “And I never get them back.”

Louis would love to stay and argue that he does, in fact, not steal Liam’s clothing, but he doesn’t have the time. 

“What the fuck am I supposed to wear to class then?” Louis asks in a clipped tone. He hears Liam sigh heavily, like he’s being terribly inconvenienced, which is quite rich given that it’s Liam’s own fault. Liam slowly unwraps himself from his duvet and heads over to his closet, digging through the mounds of clothes before extracting a shirt. 

“Here.” He says throwing it at Louis’ chest as he passes Louis on his way back to his bed. 

Liam’s already under his duvet again before Louis realizes what shirt he’s just been given. He hasn’t seen it in over a year, hasn’t really missed it either. It’s fucking ugly as all get out, a weird trippy galaxy print on the body of the shirt, the sleeves plain black. He’d always wondered why the sleeves were black and not the gaudy print of the rest of the shirt (or really, why the whole shirt wasn’t black to begin with). 

“What the fuck?” Louis stutters as he pulls the shirt on. “Why do you even have this?”

“You left it here.” Liam says vaguely from his blanket cocoon.

Louis looks down at the shirt. “Yeah, because this is the ugliest fucking shirt I’ve ever seen.” 

Liam shrugs his shoulders or at least, that’s what Louis assumes he’s doing as the duvet shifts slightly. “Take it or be smelly.”

Louis considers this for a moment, looking down at his discarded shirt on the floor and then looking at himself in the mirror over Liam’s dresser. The shirt may not win him any fashion awards but it’s clean so it’ll do for today. He doesn’t have time to ponder the design of a shirt he was given at a gag gift party his first semester at university anyway.

“Thanks, Payno.” Louis says sarcastically, throwing his middle finger at him. The gesture is lost on the fact that Liam has bundled back up in the duvet and isn’t even looking at Louis.

“Hope your last first day is swell.” Liam’s muffled voice warbles out from under the blanket.

Louis looks around the room one more time, satisfied he’s got everything he needs until he inevitably returns that evening. Even though he and Liam haven’t lived together since 1st year, one would never be able to tell with the amount of time they spent together.

Once he quietly closes the door to Liam’s flat, he starts walking quickly down the stairs. A glance at his phone tells him he has exactly 11 minutes to get to Holtz Commons, the main building in the center of campus where all of his accounting courses are taught. On a good day, the walk from Liam’s flat to Holtz would take Louis 10 minutes, but he’s still muddling through a hang over and can’t quite think straight. 

Louis picks up his pace a bit once he exits the flat complex, running into more students who are making their way to their 9 AM courses. He’s sweating a bit in his jeans and the weird material of the shirt is sticking to his torso. He’s wishing he had stolen Liam’s bike when he passes a crowded looking bus stop. Luck is finally turning his way, and he does an inner happy dance as he steps onto the air-conditioned bus a minute later.

While on the bus Louis looks up his class schedule on his phone. Four minutes later when the bus pulls up to Holtz, Louis dashes through the door, sprinting up the steps of the building. He’s thankful his class is only on the 2nd floor. He doesn’t even wait for the elevator, choosing to use the momentum he’s gained to carry himself up the flight up stairs. He finds his classroom and walks in right as his phone clock turns to 9:00AM.

A smirk comes across Louis’ face as he sits down in a seat in the back. He’s heaving hard and attracts a few stares from the students around him, but he doesn’t even care. He stares straight ahead as the professor steps up to the podium.

“Welcome to Principles of Taxation.” Her voice is warm and Louis can see everyone around him turn to face her. He relaxes a bit as she continues to introduce the course, leaning back in his chair, exhaling deeply as his breathing returns to normal. 

He made it.

Final year of university is going to be a piece of cake.

This confident thinking lasts approximately 6 minutes. 

Louis quickly realizes that not having any school supplies is going to be a major challenge. He should have stolen one of the notebooks off Liam’s desk, since he was already getting blamed for stealing so many other things, but in his haste he hadn’t thought of it. So he’s sat in class with absolutely no way to record the information he’s being taught. 

Since it’s an upper level course the teacher doesn’t waste any time before diving into material. Apparently, spending an entire day on the syllabus is a thing of the past. His brain is swimming with information that he knows he'll never be able to recall. 

The Ibuprofen he took at Liam’s finally kicks in around 20 minutes into the class, giving him a break from the relentless pounding in his head. However, it’s right about then that his stomach starts to get angry that he hasn’t fed it yet. It’s starting to churn; tying itself in knots as the class progresses. The mixing of the medication and alcohol in his stomach has Louis slightly concerned he’s going to be sick. 

Louis is no stranger to hangover induced nausea, but would rather avoid the public vomiting and dry heaving if at all possible. So the decision to slip out of class to buy a tea and some crackers to settle his stomach from the coffee cart on the main floor is a fairly easy one. If he hurries he might be back in time to actually pay attention to the last few minutes of his lecture.

Since class is still in session the main floor of Holtz isn’t brimming with students like normal. There are a few people standing around the cart when he gets in line. He stares at his phone for a few minutes, texting Liam nonsense in the hope that the constant buzzing of his phone will wake him up because if Louis has to be up, then Liam should too.

He looks up as the line moves forward and his mouth drops open. He’s certain his eyes have probably gone comically wide. He’s not sure how he didn’t notice it when he first got in line, but the person in front of him is wearing a nearly identical shirt to the one Louis’ wearing.

Or rather, the exact opposite. 

Instead of the ridiculous galaxy pattern across his chest like Louis, this person has it on his sleeves. The rest of his shirt is black, and Louis is a bit irrationally jealous. He only has to deal with the ridiculous pattern on his sleeves, instead of his whole torso. Although, Ridiculous Shirt Guy probably chose to wear this shirt in public, so. 

He stands in shock for a moment and the line moves forward again, before Louis pulls out his phone. He’s not sure why, but he knows he needs to document this moment. He pulls up Snap Chat and turns the camera to selfie mode. Louis can see that Ridiculous Shirt Guy is still oblivious, his head bopping to the beat of the song playing overhead. Louis pulls his signature silly face, pointing to the back of Ridiculous Shirt Guy’s shirt, and snaps the picture.

He hears the classic shutter sound and instantly freezes. He was so certain his phone was on silent. He could have sworn he had turned it on silent right as class started. He quickly lowers his hand and clicks his phone off; he can finish the snap later. Right now is damage control. Ridiculous Shirt Guy cannot know he just took a creepy picture of him. 

Of course, Ridiculous Shirt Guy must also have ridiculously good hearing because he turns around right as Louis is stuffing his phone in his pocket.

“Did you just take a picture of my ass?” Ridiculous Shirt Guy’s tone is teasing and slightly condescending. Louis is about to deliver a snarky comment about the guy’s egotistical and clearly self-absorbed nature, when he drags his eyes from the floor up Ridiculous Shirt Guy’s body. 

And, he doesn't mean to check him out, but holy fuck. The tightness of this guy's jeans rivals Louis’, which really says it all. Louis is in the jeans he wore last night with plans to pull at the pub, and this kid is literally at the coffee cart at university at 9AM. The material of the stupid shirt clings to his torso in all the right places, and when Louis finally makes eye contact he’s lost in a sea of beautiful forest green. He’s got curly hair haphazardly cascading over his shoulders and an ever-growing smirk that is making a dimple poke out of his left cheek slightly. 

Louis is just making an executive decision to change Ridiculous Shirt Guy’s name to Ridiculous Hot Guy in his head when the man in question raises his eyebrows slightly, clearly understanding that Louis was just checking him out. 

“You know,” Ridiculous Hot Guy continues, his voice deep and buttery smooth. “It’s alright if you were, it’s a good ass.” 

Louis’ mouth clamps shut, which, Louis realizes with slight horror, means that his mouth had fallen open at some point during his shameless eye raking of Ridiculous Hot Guy. 

“I was not taking a picture of your ass.” Louis finally squeaks out, before pulling his phone out of his pocket. 

“Going back for seconds?” Ridiculous Hot Guy’s smirk just gets deeper and Louis really wants to wipe it off his face, maybe with his lips. 

“I’m showing you the fucking picture I took.” Louis growls as he turns on his phone. "And you know, if anybody is taking picture of asses, mine would be the one." He snaps, not quite realizing what has come out of his mouth until he finishes. He can feel Ridiculous Hot Guy's eyes on him, but Louis just stares at his phone. The Snap Chat app is still open and Louis shows the picture to Ridiculous Hot Guy. Louis isn’t quite sure what to expect, but he’s pleased when the smirk the guy had been wearing slowly starts to turn to a legitimate smile.

“Oh my god.” Ridiculous Hot Guy says, looking down at his shirt before looking back at Louis. “Our shirts are soul mates.” 

He looks earnestly at Louis, who honestly has a hard time not bursting out laughing. He’s having difficulty connecting the confident man from a few minutes ago with the ridiculously endearing one in front of him now. 

“Sure, two halves of a whole.” Louis says, returning his phone to his pocket. “So, just to clarify, no ass pictures were taken.” He can feel his cheeks warm slightly. “Just wanted to show my mate that some other unfortunate soul has the other half of this ridiculous shirt.” 

Ridiculous Hot Guy smile lingers for a minute before drooping slightly, his eyebrows furrowing. “What do you mean?”

Louis coughs awkwardly. “I mean, this shirt is fucking ridiculous, mate.” He says gesturing to his torso. “I wouldn’t normally be caught dead in it.”

Ridiculous Hot Guy immediately scoffs. “I’ll have you know this pattern is very in style right now.” Louis raises his eyebrows in surprise as Ridiculous Hot Guy continues. “I’m serious.”

“So, everyone wants to look like an alien from outer space?” Louis asks doubtfully. 

Ridiculous Hot Guy shakes his head and takes a deep breath before responding. “Why are you wearing it if you think it’s so hideous?”

Louis grits his teeth and shrugs awkwardly. “Spent the night at a friend’s last night, this was all they had for me to wear.” He looks down at his stomach and shakes his head. “I can’t wait to get home and throw it in the trash.” 

The look of horror that flashes across Ridiculous Hot Guy’s face is comical and Louis is giggling before he can tell himself not too. Ridiculous Hot Guy begins to pout, jutting his lower lip out just like Louis’ 6-year-old sisters. 

“You look just like my baby sisters.” Louis blurts out without thinking. He doesn’t need to be telling this random guy with a very questionable fashion sense about his family. Ridiculous Hot Guy’s face softens slightly though. “Except they dress way better.”

Ridiculous Hot Guy rolls his eyes. “You do realize that you are insulting yourself every time you say something like that?”

“I already told you, I’m not wearing this shirt on purpose. It was out of necessity. I’ll probably use it as kindling in the first fire I make in my flat this winter.” He can see Ridiculous Hot Guy beginning to get flustered again, which only eggs Louis on. “Or maybe I’ll bury it.” He brings his pointer finger to his mouth and taps a few times. “I could give it to that dog that always hangs around my flat for a chew toy.”

“Stop.” Even through his sharp tone of voice, Louis can tell Ridiculous Hot Guy is fighting back a smile (even if he is failing fairly miserably.) “Since you obviously can’t be trusted with such a nice shirt, you’ll just have to give it to me.” He stares at Louis confidently.

“Right now?” Louis asks, smirk growing on his face.

Ridiculous Hot Guy’s smile falters a bit. “Well, obviously not right now.” Louis doesn’t know what it says about him how adorable he finds this guy’s stammering. “Guess we’ll have to meet again so you can, you know, give it to me.” Ridiculous Hot Guy clears his throat. “You know, to protect the sanctity of fashion.”

Louis stares at him for a moment. “Right.” 

Ridiculous Hot Guy doesn’t say anything for a moment, and Louis is worried their banter has come to an end. He’s also thinking about his cell phone in his pocket and how he’s really wishing he’d gotten Ridiculous Hot Guy’s face in the Snap Chat so that he’d a copy of it forever. 

The silence is finally broken as the barista calls out “next” and Ridiculous Hot Guy steps up to the window.

He orders his drink and that’s when Louis comes up with a plan. He steps closer to the guy at the window to overhear the conversation he has with the barista. Ridiculous Hot Guy orders a ridiculously sugary sounding coffee drink and makes pleasant conversation with the barista. 

“Name?” The barista finally says at last, Louis hopes the way he leans his body forward looks casual.

“Harry.” Ridiculous Hot Guy turns his body slightly away from the window as he says it, almost as if he wanted Louis to hear. 

Once Ridiculous Hot Guy- _Harry_ \- moves out of the way, Louis quickly steps up to the window, ordering a tea and picks up a bag of crisps. He’d forgotten the whole reason he’d come down to the cart in the first place was to settle his stomach. His queasy stomach had long since dissipated. 

“Name?” The barista’s voice pulls Louis out of his thoughts. He turns to his right and sees Harry tilt his body towards Louis, edging slightly closer.

“Louis.” He isn’t ashamed to say that he said his name slightly louder than he would have normally. And judging from the way that he sees Harry grin and bite his lower lip, he assumes that his loud voice has come in handy once again. He gives his student card to the barista, who swipes it before quickly handing it back, motioning for the next student to step forward.

Louis moves closer to Harry, who has just been given his coffee at the second window. 

“So Harold.” Louis begins, causing Harry to jerk his head up from where he had been dumping sugar into his coffee. 

“My names not Harold.” Harry interrupts as he shakes the packet over his coffee. 

“So Harold.” Louis begins again; ignoring the way Harry rolls his eyes. “When are we getting together for me to gift you this lovely t-shirt?” Louis says sarcastically, gesturing to his mid section. 

“Well, _Lewis_.” Harry says, stirring a spoon in his drink. “I’m free tomorrow afternoon. We could meet up in the student center and then go eat dinner?”

And, woah. This suddenly sounds very much like a date. 

Louis is never one to back down from a challenge though. “Tomorrow night is perfect. I might even wash it for you.” 

“I could only be that lucky.” Harry jokes sarcastically as he places the lid back on his coffee. He brings it to his mouth, the dimple in his cheek still visible as he takes a sip. When he removes the cup his lips are a deep red, shiny and glistening. 

Louis replicates his moves, taking a sip of his tea, feeling its warmth soothe his whole body. 

“So it’s settled?” Harry asks, and Louis nods in confirmation as he takes another sip of his drink. “I’m curious to see what clothing you deem appropriate and fashionable given that this apparently is a ‘no-go’.” 

Louis almost snorts tea up his nose. Coughing slightly, he takes a breath before responding. “Trust me, I can make anything look good.”

Harry raises his eyebrows and then smirks. “I don’t doubt that.” 

Louis frowns as he realizes more students are milling around the Commons. Pulling his phone out of his pocket he winces when he sees that he’s officially missed the rest of his accounting class.

_Way to make a good first day impression_ , Louis chides himself. He’s already thinking of how he’s going to explain today to his advisor because he really wasn’t kidding when he said that he would need her for letters of recommendation come spring, when Harry taps him on the shoulder.

“Alright?” Harry’s voice brings Louis out of thoughts. “Seems like I lost you there.”

Louis shakes his head. “Sorry.” He points towards the stairs with the hand holding his cup of tea. “I kind of skipped the end of class to come get this tea. I should probably go get my stuff.”

“A rule breaker, eh?” 

Louis smirks. “You have no idea.” He raises his free hand in a wave, as he begins to walk backwards towards the stairs. “I’ll see you tomorrow though?” 

Harry nods and waves to him too. Louis smiles and turns around just as he hears Harry call out his name. Turning back around he sees that Harry is rushing towards him, cheeks slightly pink once he’s reached him.

“I want a picture.” Harry demands, his voice confident but his face looking slightly unsure. Louis sends him a questioning look. “Of the shirts.” Harry explains. “Since this is the only time we’ll ever be wearing them at the same time, I want a picture too.”

Louis nods. He’s got a picture; it’s only fair that Harry gets one too. “Alright, Harry.” He says, putting his arm out. “Bring it in.” 

Harry only pauses slightly for a second as Louis puts his arm around Harry’s shoulder, before melting easily into Louis’ touch. Harry pulls out his phone, quickly pulling up the Snap Chat app. Louis is debating about smiling or making a funny face when he feels Harry's hot breath against his ear. "You know," he whispers, lips tickling the sensitive skin, "you were right about your ass." 

Louis is pretty sure he blanks for a moment, processing Harry's words before he feels the boy next to him nudge his shoulder. "Come on, now." He feels Harry's free hand come to rest on his waist. "Smile for my picture." Louis can see his cheeks are pink in the camera, but grins anyway, watching Harry snap a quick selfie. Louis feels unreasonably disappointed when Harry releases the hold he has on his waist, tapping away on his phone.

“Better hold onto that forever, Curls.” Louis teases as he retracts his arm from Harry’s shoulders. 

“Of course.” Harry says seriously, cradling his phone against his chest. “I’ll treasure it.” 

“See you tomorrow.” Louis promises once again before finally turning around and walks back up the stairs.

The classroom is empty by the time he gets back, the teacher having already escaped to her next class. He makes a mental note to send her an email, already diagnosing himself with a terrible bout of food poisoning that caused the behavior he exhibited in class today.

Since it doesn't appear another class is going to be starting in the room anytime soon, Louis sits down at the table and pulls up his Snap Chat, the picture of him and Harry still on display. Louis thinks for a minute before writing out a simple caption ‘had this shirt for over a year and always wondered why the sleeves were black until I met this ridiculous man today’. 

He sends it to Liam and Niall, and then decides to go ahead and post it to his story as well. He wants everyone to know about the man with the ridiculous fashion sense and the greenest eyes he’s ever met. 

He quickly gets on Facebook, discouraged at first that he only knows Harry’s first name. He types in Harry and University of Manchester, expecting dozens of profiles to pop up. They do, but he immediately breaks out into a grin as _his_ Harry is at the top of the page. _Harry Styles._ They have 12 mutual friends. _It’s absolutely 100% fate,_ Louis giddily tells himself as he requests to be Harry’s friend. 

It’s barely ten minutes later when he’s on the bus back to Liam’s flat that he gets a notification that Harry has accepted his friend request. 

Louis smiles to himself, biting his lip slightly as he opens a new message to Harry.

_I’m going to need a copy of that picture, Curly. The one I’ve got doesn’t have your face in it, and I don’t want to forget what you look like. It’d be a shame if I didn’t recognize you in the student center tomorrow._

When his phone buzzes a few minutes later, Louis can’t keep the grin off his face. Staring down at the picture of Harry and himself in those ridiculous matching shirts, Louis can’t help but feel butterflies come alive in his stomach. 

Yeah, final year of university is going to be fucking awesome.


End file.
